ComScore Extends Reach And Frequency Metrics To Twitter, Bulks Up On Cross-Media Ratings

ComScore has struck a measurement deal with Twitter to enable a tagless integration to its digital audience delivery and analytics system, validated Campaign Essentials (vCE).

The integration will take effect in Q2 and will give advertisers access to digital GRPs and reach and frequency metrics.

These new reporting features will be available directly within Twitter's advertiser interface, said comScore CEO Serge Matta during the company’s fiscal year 2015 earnings call on Wednesday.

ComScore predicts vCE will deliver $100 million in 2017 revenue, mostly thanks to big platform deals like its partnership with Google’s DoubleClick and, now, Twitter, as well as additional vCE adoption across major marketers like Kraft Heinz.

ComScore’s total revenue in the fourth quarter was $97.7 million, up 10% YoY.

ComScore spent a large chunk of its earnings call detailing its push into cross-media ratings, promising new products that capture incremental views across TV, digital, mobile and over-the-top viewing. Some of these tools will be available in time for the spring upfronts, the company said.

TV broadcasters are clamoring for new currencies that factor in viewer behavior beyond the standard C3 and C7 ratings, which they claim drastically undercut their true audience reach. ComScore sees an opportunity to step in and answer that call with products aimed at giving media companies new currencies for valuing cross-screen audiences.

“We’ve begun briefing clients about a new syndicated cross-media service with individual-level reporting across all linear, time-shifted, VOD and digital video channels,” Matta said.

In addition to user-level reporting across channels such as linear TV, VOD and over-the-top, comScore will add advanced data on “the cars they drive, how they vote and the products they buy, with 15 months of historical data provided as part of the service,” according to Matta.

ComScore plans to roll out some of those capabilities by fall.

The biggest shift in comScore’s predominantly digital focus to date resulted from its $768 million merger with Rentrak. That deal closed last quarter.

“With Rentrak, we can incorporate traditional TV, VOD, movies, mobile video and OTT measurement,” Matta said. “We expect in the US alone, the addressable opportunity to be north of $2 billion.”

ComScore claims its television footprint is sizable. Rentrak gives it a lens into watching behaviors across 500 national networks, 2,000 local networks, 8.8 billion VOD streams and 40 million TVs. These complement comScore’s existing window into 260 million desktop and 160 million mobile screens.

“We’re not just looking at total audience,” said Matta. “We’re looking at incremental reach by audience. If 30,000 are watching TV and 20,000 view on mobile, we’re not showing a 50,000-person audience. We’re factoring in where there’s duplication and on what platform.”